Apparatus for controlling the movement of carriers in pneumatic-despatch apparatus.



R. G. COLLINS, JB.

APPARATUS IOR GONTROLLING THE MOVEMENT OP CARRIERS IN PNEUMATICl DBSPATGH APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15,1913.

1, 1 O8, 1 37, Patented Aug. 25, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

THE MORRIS PETERS CD.. PHOTO-LITRO.. WASHINGUN. D. CA

Y R. G. COLLINS, JA. APPARATUS FOR GONTROLLING THE MOVEMENT 0F CARRIERS IN PNEUMATIG DBSPATGH APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY15, 1913. l, 1 O8, 1 37.

Patented Aug. 25, 1914. H

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE KORRIS PETERS C0.. PHOTO L IYHO.. WSNINGTUN. Dy C4 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RODERICK Gr. COLLINS, JR., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE MOVEMENT OF CARRIERS IN PNEUMATIC- DESPATCI-I APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 15, 1913.

Patented Aug. 25, 1914. Serial No. 779,140.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, RoDERIcK G. Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Controlling the h/Iovement of Carriers in Pneumatic-Despatch Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in pneumatic despatch apparatus having to do particularly with the terminals thereof.

The object of the invention is to control the movement of the carriers at t-he terminal so that they will pass from the despatch tubes onto the receiving table7 or the like, gently and without shock or danger of injury to objects thereon.

The invention may be carried into effect by the preferred apparatus illustrated in the accompanving drawings and is set forth in COLLINS,

the following description.

That which is claimed as new will be defined lin the claims appended to the description.

In the said drawings, Figure l is a top plan view illustrating the terminal of a pneumatic despatch apparatus, of duplex type. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional-view thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line ca -b, Fig. 2. alongthe line ccZ of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a section along the line e-f of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view of the invention, applied in a single member terminal. Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view thereof.

Referring now more particularly to the arrangement of the invention as shown in Figs. l to 3 inclusive, the reference numeral Fig. 4L is a section `l designates the transmission-tube of pneumatic despatch-system having a duplex or plural-member horizontally arranged terminal, the members of which are designated as 2 and 8 'and which havefopenings at their ends for the discharge of the carriers. 4 designates the power transmitting fan which may be either blast or suction. The numeral 5 designates an air-gate pivotally arranged at the juncture of the terminal -menibers with the transmission tube,` adapted to send carriers coming through said tube alternately into the members of the terminal. 6

designates one of the carriers, represented as having passed into one of the terminal members and the air-gate closed therebehind.

The air-gate is operated automatically, and `One suitable way of doing' this is illustrated in the drawing, wherein 7 designates a walking-beam rigidly connected with the pivot of the air-gate and having connection with the cores 8 of a pair of solenoids 9, severally appropriated to the several members of the terminal, included in the circuit of a suitable source of electricity, illustrated diagrammatically as a dynamo l0, which circuit also includes an appropriate switch ll to open and close the circuit, one member of which is associated with a suitable trip l2, arranged to project into the path of the carriers, so that as the carriers close the switch and establish the circuit the air-gate will be shut behind the carriers, closing off the terminal member, into which it has passed, from the transmitting tube and the influence of the transmitting power. The air-gate will be suitably packed to make substantially an airtight closure or door behind the carrier.

The operation of the invention will now be briefly described. Assuming the installation to be a blast transmission: Then the carrier has passed into one of the members of the terminal and the gate closed therebehind, the carrier acts like a piston, the air in the pocket becoming rarefied and setting up a progressively increasing tension behind the carrier sufficient to reduce the speed of movement of the carrier so that it will emerge from the terminal member onto the receiving table gently, so that should there be other objects thereon there will be no danger of collision or damage.

In'Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings the invention is illustrated as embodied in a system having a single member terminal, and differs only in that the air-gate points in the opposite direction from that shown in the installation with the duplex member terminal, and normally lies in an appropriately shaped pocket 13, so that the wall ofy the gate, when in such normal position, will lie substantially flush with the wall of the tube. In such installation the gate is shown as provided with a crank-arm l-l having connection with a core llcommon to the fields 16 of a pair of electro-magnets. In this installation when the carrier passes beyond the gate one of the fields is energized and the gate is thrown across the transmitting tube to form a closure or cutoff behind the carrier, and the action upon the carrier is the same `con'iplish the purpose of as heretofore described. ln this arrangement the gate is restored to its normal posiv tion by means of a second trip lji" at the exit end of the terminal, which works to open and close the circuit of the second of the electro-magnets and, through the medium of the connection 13, open the switch ll.

'.lhe system of this invention is designed for use in connection vsith tubes of relatively large diameter and carriers of relatively large capacity as distinguished from storeservice systems, and, as an example of the operation, it may be stated as illustrative merely that with a terminal eighteen inchesl in diameter and a carrier adapted thereto, say with a teu per cent. leakage past the carrier in its transit through the terminal, a vacuum of about tivo and one-halt pounds enists behind the carrier, sul'licient to acthe invention. lilith a terminal thirty inches in diameter anda carrier adapted thereto, that to say a carrier betvreen the 'walls of which and the walls of the tube there will be a space of about thrce-eighths of a n inch the percentage of leakage Awill be less and the established vacuum of correspondingly greater power, so that a travel of between nine and ten feet of the carrier within the terminal after the closure of the gate will be sul'licient to reduce the speed of the carrier to safety when the length of the terminal, beyond the gate is about twelve feet. lf in some particular condition of installation it should be found necessary to have a terminal tube so long that the carrier would otherwise come to rest Within the terminal, l may provide, as shown at i8, for introducing a blast of air behind the carrier to eject it from the terminal, and this blast may be taken from the fan et and regulated to suit the circumstances by means of a pressure regulating` valve 21 shown conventionally in Fig. 2. I have provided and referred to this auxiliary blast of air only because of the perhaps remote possibility that in some condition of installation it may be useful as an auxiliary or precautionary provision.

Hereinbefore l have described the invention and its operation when the system is a blast one. i It is operable also when the system is a suction one. ,ln that event, however, in order to maintain the suction, the exit end of the terminal is provided with a door 1,9 shown in dotted lines in Figs. l, 2 and 3. rllhe carrier ivill, under he impulse of the vacuum or suction, pass beyond the gate, which will be closed behind it, and the piston-like action of lthe carrier Will cause the reduction of the speed thereof to safety as before explained. ln such case, to open the door at the end of the terminal, the carrier may be provided With a pusher 20. 'The door may be closed manually. As

before stated, When the system is a blast one the terminal is open-ended so that the only pressure in front of the car within the tube is atmospheric pressure, the vacuum behind the air being suilicient to retard or slow drfivn the movement of 'the car so that it gently passes from the terminal. When the system is a suction one the vacuum created behind the car is sufficient to serve this purpose, the door at the end of the terminal shown in dotted lines being only for the purpose of maintaining the carrier transmitting suction when the terminal is in communication with the transmitting tube. lllhen the gate 5 is closed behind the car the door at the end of the termimil may be opened, but that in the specific example of the invention shown it remains closed until opened by the pusher carried by the car is imnniterial in respect of the method of operation, because there will be no substantial compression of air in advance of the car prior to the opening of the door by the pusher, the vacuum suction behind the ear being the substantial moveinent-retarding force. The arrangement of a light catch for the door and a pusher on the. car to open it is illustrative merely, and, obviously, the purpose of the door (namely, to .maintain the suction when the system is a suction one) can be arrived at in different ways; for example, the door need have no catch but be held closed merely by the in` tern-al suction and so arranged that it Will open automatically by gravity when such suction is relieved, the fundamental purpose of the invention being not to have the car come 'to rest Within the tube but to retard its momentum so that it Will pass therefrom gently. @ne of the values of this mechanism which provides for and permits this mode of operation is that `in a system designed for the transportation of relatively very heavy carriers, if the carriers are made to come to rest Within the tube, then it is essential to employ some additional means and expenditure of additional time to discharge them from the tube, Whereas by creating a car retarding suction behind the car it may be allowed to pass from the tribe onto the receiving table but with its momentum sufficiently reduced Vthat it may do this safely and without damage to any other carrier or car that may at the time be upon the table. It is another distinguishing feature of the method and apparatus that the admission of extraneous plus-atmospheric pressure to the tube in advance of the car is dispensed with, And, furthermore, there is no auxiliary bypass connecting the front with the rear end of the tube which would convey air from the portion of the tube in advance of the carrier to the portion of the tube in rear of the carrier to destroy the effective movement-retarding vacuum. it is obvious that when constructing apparatus 130 to carry the invention into eiect the quicker the door is made to close behind the carrier t-he more efficient will be the apparatus.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

l. In pneumatic tube despatch apparatus, the combination of a tube having a horizontally arranged terminal7 pneumatic means for despatching a carrier through said tube, said terminal being provided with an opening at its end for the discharge of the carrier and being normally closed against access of extraneous plus-atmospheric pressure other than car-despatching air, an air gate pivotally arranged within the transmitting tube, means including a trip arranged in the path of movement of the carrier for shifting the position of said gate to close communication between said tube and` its terminal, said gate being interposed intermediate the trip and the transmission tube, so that a car-movement retarding vacuum is, by the movement. of the car, established behind the car, substantially as described.

2. In pneumatic tube despatch apparatus, the combination of a tube and vmeans communicating therewith for despatching a car-- rier therethrough, a horizontally arranged plural-member terminal, the members of which are normally closed against access of extraneous plus-at-mospheric pressure other than car-despatching air, and an air gate pivotally arranged Within the transmitting tube at the junction of the terminal therewith to coperate with both of said terminal members, means including trips arranged in the terminal members in the path Vthe combination of a tube of movement of the carriers to close communication between the despatching tube and that terminal member onto which the carrier passes for shifting the position of said gate whereby a car movement retarding vacuum is, by the movement of the car, established in said terminal member, substantially as described.

3. In pneumatic tube despatch apparatus,

having a horizontally arranged terminal, pneumatic means for despatching a carrier through said tube, said terminal being provided at its end with an opening for the discharge of the carrier and being normally closed against access of extraneous plus-atmospheric pressure other than car-despatching air, an air gate arranged within the transmitting tube, means including a trip arranged in the path of movement of the carrier for shifting the position of said gate to close communication between said tube and its terminal, said gate being interposed intermediate the trip and the transmission tube so that a car-movement retarding vacuum is, by the movement of the car, established behind the car, and means for automatically introducing air pressure behind the carrier, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RODERIGK G. COLLINS, JR.

Vitnesses:

CHARLES H. BURTON, GERTRUDE M. STUCKER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, 'by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C." 

